Material handling apparatus



Dec. 21, 1943 FRANZ 2,337,383

MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 10, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IIIVVEN TOP E. E. FRANZ 6R MM ATTORNEY Dec. 21, 1943.

E. E. FRANZ MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 10, 1.941

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. E. E. FPA NZ v ZR. 0M

.grromvsr Dec. 21, 1943. E E, FRANZ 2,337,383

MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 10, 1941 I s Sheets-Sheet :s

il g Q Q -6 FIG. 5

57 :4' 7 46 FIG 5 49 IE; 48

1 45 54 l 5/ 50 so 3 INVENTOR E.E. FRANZ -Rl\'\0w-lw Patented Dec. 21, 1943 MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Erwin E. Franz, Cranford. N. J., assignor to Western Electric Company. Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 10, 1941, Serial No. 422,398

Claims.

This invention relates to material handling apparatus, and more particularly to apparatus for holding in proper juxtaposition members to be secured together as a unitary structure.

In modern telephone central apparatus as well as in many other kinds of electrical apparatus, coils comprising a laminated magnetic core having two stacks of laminae put togetherto make a loop or closed magnetic circuit and having a winding on one side of this loop or ring-shaped core, are used in vast numbers. The two stacks composing the core may be secured together by means of external tie pieces and bolts passing through the tie pieces and stacks of laminae. These assembly bolts may also secure other members of the assembly in place, such as bases or terminal supports or other members.

An object of the present invention is to provide a simple, reliable and efiective apparatus to receive and hold in precisely predetermined juxtaposition and relation to each other a set of parts which are to be secured together into a unitary assembly.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention may be embodied in an apparatus comprising a bed to support perforated members to be assembled, a pair of positioning members approximable to each other in the plane of the bed to receive therebetween and position on the bed members to be assembled, clamp members carried by the positioning members and reciprocable therein perpendicularly to the bed to clamp members to be assembled in place on the bed, a second pair of positioning members approximable to each other in the plane of the bed in a direction at right angles to the motion of the-first pair of positioning members, positioning pins in the bed at right angles to the plane thereof to be received in the perforations of the members to be assembled and reciprocable to be withdrawn therefrom, and a cam having members conformed to actuate the several movable elements mentioned in predetermined time sequence.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear from the following detailed description of one embodiment of the invention, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which the same reference numerals are applied to identical parts and in which Fig. 1 is a plan View of an apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention and shown in open or receiving position;

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a broken partial View similar to Fig, 2 but on an enlarged scale and showing the parts in closed position;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1 with the parts in closed position and a horizontally-sectioned unit to be assembled in place;

Fig. 6 is a broken, vertical section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a broken, horizontal section on the line 11 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 8 is a detached, plan view of the coil unit to be assembled in the apparatus; and

Fig. 9 is a detached, exploded view of the components of the coil unit.

In the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed to illustrate the invention, a flat, horizontal, base member 25), a cylindrical vertical wall member 2|, and a fiat, horizontal top member 22 suitably secured together form a generally cylindrical or drum-shaped housing adapted to be stationarily secured on a suitable table or other support (not shown) by means of perforated angle lugs 23.

A pair of similar carriage blocks 24 and 25 is mounted in radial slots in the top 22 to be slidable therein toward and from each other. Since these two blocks are substantially identically alike, not only in themselves but also in the associated parts and members carried by them and movable with as well as in some cases relatively to them also, only one of them will be described and provided with reference numerals in detail, namely 25, the lower one in Fig. 1 which is also the one at the right in Fig. 2. Minor differences in proportion will be pointed out in due course.

On the under side of the block 25 is rigidly secured a depending tube or sleeve 26 coaxial with a vertical bore 21 in the block 25. A vertically slidable rod 28 is housed and guided in the sleeve 26 and bore 21 and is surrounded by a compression spring 29. The rod 28 is prevented from rotation by a key 30 entering a coacting vertical groove or keyway 3| in the rod.

A cross-head 32 is rigidly and radially mounted on the upper end of the rod 28, and a relatively light compression spring 33 tends to keep the cross-head and rod 28 up. The radially inner end of the head 32 is formed with an overhanging clamp member 34. The radially outer end of the head 32 is forked to receive and be guided by a guide rod or pin 35, rigid in a corresponding vertical bore in the block 25 to assist in keeping the cross-head in rigidly radial alignment.

Because of differences in dimensions at the two ends of the unit to be assembled in the apparatus, the block 24 is somewhat higher than the block 25, its vertically slidable rod l28 somewhat longer, and its clamping member [34 on its cross-head somewhat longer; but in general structure and action the two blocks and their associated parts are alike.

A generally disc-like cam 36 is mounted under, spaced a little from and parallel to the top 22 of the housing, to be rotatable to and fro about the axis of the housing to which the blocks 24 and 25 are relatively radially movable. The

sleeve 26 of the block 25 and. the corresponding sleeve of the block 24 pass through respective cam track slots 38 and 31 in the cam 35, best shown in Fig. 3. The cam, manually actuable by a lever 39 and handle 49, when rotated will draw the blocks 24 and 25 together or force them apart in accurately predetermined motion.

Just under the cam plate 35, a vertically disposed cam roller 4! is mounted on a horizontal support s'lidable on the rod 28. This roller coacts with a vertically-acting cam member or surface 42, secured or formed on the under-side of the plate36, as best shown in Fig. 3. The correspondingroller 43 and cam member 44 associated with the block 24 are also shown in Fig. 4. When the camtrack slots 3-? and 38 cause the blocks 24 and 25 to move inwardly and as these approach their. final positions, the cam members 42 and 44 draw the cross-heads 32 and I32 resiliently down by compressingthe springs 29 and A two-part bed 45, 46*1'ests '0n the center of the top 22, the part 45 beingrigidly held in placeby pins 4! mounted in the top 22, and entering corresponding closely fitting bores in the part. 45.. Similar pins are provided for the partJ liEi-but the bores in 46 into which these pins. enter are enough larger than the pins to allow or some movement of the part 46 on the top 22-. This movement is limited to a short reciprocability toward and from the part 45 by bolts 48 and a guide pin 49. Compression springs 50 normally hold the part 43 away from the part45;

Vertically: reciprocable; pins 51' emerge forwardlyfrom the part; 45 near each end. The thicker integral. shaft: portions of these pins pass down through. appropriate bores in the part 45' and m the: top. 22 'and are supported by compression springs 52. Similar and similarly. located pins rise; from the part, 451 and have their thicker shafts guided in slidably close fitting bores in the part 4s; and pass down through the top 22 via enlargedbores to permit them to move with the part 461 toward: and from thepart 4.5. The pins 53 are. also provided with springs '52. The left end of thepart 45 (Fig. 7) extends out across the endof the part 45 and carries two vertical immovable. pins. 54. The bores in the parts 45 andz lfi for the. pins and. 53 are enlarged at themed surface of the part (as indicated only in Fig. 4) .into hexagonal pockets 55 to receive article assembling nuts and hold them against rotation. as. hereinafter described. The top of the left. end on? part 45 (Fig. 4) is. formed with an articlebaselocating; groove 55 oriented across the length of: the part 45 and in which groove the pins 54. are located.

A pair of blocks, '51 and 5,8 is supported on thetop 22 to be reciprocably slidable toward and from each other in a direction at right angles to the lengths of the bed parts 45 and 4B and to the line of reciprocation of the blocks 24 and 25. The block 58 is provided across its inner end with an integral or rigidly attached cross clamp member A similarly shaped clamp member $50 is mounted to be limitedly slidable on the block 5'! in the direction of its length and reciprocation and is held yieldably in its leftmost position (Fig. 6) on the block 57 by a compression spring 6!. Each of the block 57 and 58 is provided on its under-side with a cam pin or collar 52 and 63 respectively which engage in and are driven respectively by cam slots 54 and 65 in the cam 35.

The cam 3.5 is also provided with clearance slots 5165. for the pins 5! and 53 and with cam members. EB? to draw the pins El and '53 down against the tension of the springs 52.

In Fig'i 9 are shown in an exploded View, the component parts of the particular article selected to illustrate the use of the apparatus described above. as illustrative embodiment of the; invention. This article is shown in Fig. 8, assembled as it comes fromthe apparatus. The particular.- article illustrated is an electrical coil, used by the thousand in telephone apparatus. It is, shownin Fig. 9 in the components for assembling-which the presentapparatus is designed. These components are a plain stack 68 of L- shaped laminae' ofmagnetic metal, a similar stack 5'! having on it a winding 68 of insulated wire, a block 59 of insulating material molded on the stack '51 and having metal terminals H! for the winding embedded in the block 69. There is also an insulating Washer H. The unit consisting. of the parts, 61, 68, 59,10 and II will be indicated for convenience by the single number 12. Theprincipal members of the completed articles are the two units GG-a-nd 52; These are tobe'spaced apart by laminae T3 of insulating material, and secured together by a support 14, three identically similar tieslfi, and four identically similar bolts lit with nuts il The support M is a roughly T-shaped member of metal, shown implanin Figs. 8 and 9, and in side elevation in. Fig.

Withthe apparatus in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the four nuts I! are dropped downover the. four pins 5,! and. 53 andrest in the pockets 55. The pins are slightly smaller indiameter than theholes in the nuts, and the pockets are shaped and dimensioned to receive the nuts. easily and hold them against rotation. The support '54 is placed on the pin 5| and the pin stat the left in Fig. 2. The fiat,.square, vertical base member ofthe support fits into the groove 53 and between the pins 54 in the stationary bed part 4'i and is thus. positively lo cated on the bed. One of the ties. 15 is placed onthe otherpin :5! and other pin 53 at the right in FigL 2. The unit 72 is, placed on the pins 5! and the stackiifi is placed on the pins 53. The squares d3 of insulation are dropped vertically into place between the stacks 66 and 57. The last two ties F5 are placed on the pins 51 and 53 transversely to the stacks. All the components are now approximately in place except the four bolts.

Then the handle 45' is moved from the solid line position of Fig. 1 to the dotted line position, thus rotating the cam 36. The cam slots 31 and 33- drive. the blocks 24 and 25 radially inwardly and a positioning finger F3- on the block Z4 slips between the coil .base or support 14 and the insulating winding head 69 and bottoms on the end of the stack 6?. At the same time the cam slots E i and 65 drive the blocks and 58 radially inwardly. The block 58 carries its rigidly attached cross-head 59 to a positively predetermined position in which the end portion of its inner face should and usually do make contact with the lower end (Fig. 1) of the outer face of the stack 6? and with the outer face of the lower ends of the terminals Ill. The various holes in the stacks, support and ties through which the pins 5i and 53 pass are all a little larger than the pins, so that these various parts have some play on the pins. The cross-head 5-9 also has at its lower end a forwardly projecting positioning arm 39 which slides over and positions the lower end face of the stack 67. Meanwhile, the cross-head 68, which is resiliently mounted on the block 5?, has been pressed against the stack 58 and has pressed this against the insulators l3 and the stack 6 and has received and located the stack between its positioning arms 88.

The pair of stacks is now located vertically by resting on the bed E 5, M2. It is located horizontally and longitudinally of the stacks by the finger l8 and the arms l9 and 353. It is located horizontally and transversely of the stacks by the rigid cross-head 59 and the resilient cross-head The cross-head 6B is made resilient to allow different thicknesses of the insulating squares 73 to be used when it is desired. to modify the magnetic circuit of the coil.

Toward the latter part of the inward travel of the blocks 2&- and 25, the cam members 32 and id begin to draw down the cross heads 32 and i552. The cam parts are so arranged that the clamp members 3 3 and Hi l do not touch the ties '55 on the stack ends until the cross-heads 59 and 6!] have positioned the stacks. .Then the clamp members come down on the ties and clamp the entire assembly as shown in Fig. 4. As the clamps move down, the cam members 56? draw the pins 5! and 53 down into the position hown in Fig. The bolts 76 are dropped down behind the retracted pins and screwed into the nuts Tl, completing the assembling operation.

The handle 40 is then brought back to its original position. As the clamps begin to rise, the cross-heads 5B and Gil also release their grip, and the pins 5| and 53, rising, strike against the ends of the bolts 5% and so knock out the completcd article in case any of the nuts i! have jammed a little in the sockets 55.

Details of proportion of the several positioning and clamping means will of course be varied to suit other articles of like general character to be assembled. The embodiment described is illustrative and may be variously modified and departed from while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention as pointed out and described in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Assembling apparatus for assembling parts comprising a bed to receive parts to be assembled, a pair of positioning devices reciprocable toward each other in the plane of the bed to engage parts on the bed, a second pair of positioning devices reciprocable toward each other in the plane of the bed at an angle to the path of reciprocation of the first mentioned devices to also engage parts on the bed, a movable member having cam slots into which operating portions of the devices project and a handle for moving the member to cause the cam slots to reciprocate the devices to engage and thereby position the parts to be assembled.

2. Assembling apparatus for assembling parts comprising a bed to receive parts to be assembled, a pair of positioning devices reciprocable toward each other in the plane of the bed to engage parts on the bed, a second pair of positioning devices reciprocable toward each other in the plane of the bed at an angle s the path of reciprocation of the first mentioned devices to also engage parts on the bed, a movable member having cam slots into which operating portions of the devices project, clamping arms carried by certain of the positioning devices, cams carried by the movable members, and a handle for moving the member to cause the cam slots to reciprocate the devices to engage and thereby position the parts to be assembled and to cause the cams to engage portions of the arms to move the arms in a path at an angle to the plane of the bed to clamp the positioned parts.

3. Assembling apparatus for assembling perforated parts comprising a bed to receive and support such parts, a movable pin passing through the bed at right angles to the plane thereof, spring means associated with the pin to normally project the pin to be received in the perforations of parts placed on the bed, a pair of positioning devices reciprocable toward each other in the plane of the bed to engage the parts on the bed, a movable member having a cam portion and cam slots, and a handle for moving the member to cause the cam portion to engage with and thereby withdraw the pin against the spring means to allow assembly fastening elements to be placed in the perforations and the cam slots to engage portions of the positioning devices and thereby move the devices into engagement with and position the parts therebetween.

4. Assembling apparatus for assembling perforated parts comprising a bed to receive and support such parts, a movable pin passing through the bed at right angles to the plane thereof, spring means associated with the pin to normally project the pin to be received in the perforations of parts placed on the bed, a pair of positioning devices reciprocable toward each other in the plane of the bed to engage the parts on the bed, clamping arms carried by the device, a movable member having cam portions and cam slots and an operating handle for moving the member to cause one of the cam portions to engage and thereby withdraw the pin against the spring to allow fastening elements to be placed in the perforations of the parts, other cam portions to engage portion of the clamping arms to cause the arms to clamp the parts upon the bed and the cam slots to engage portions of the positioning devices to reciprocate the devices into engagement with the parts upon the bed.

5. Assembling apparatus for assembling perforated parts comprising a bed to receive and support perforated parts to be assembled, reciprocable pins passing through the bed at right angles to the plane thereof, a spring surrounding each pin to normally project the pin to be received in the perforations of parts placed on the bed, a pair of positioning devices reciprocable toward each other in the plane of the bed to engage the parts on the bed, a second pair of positioning devices reciprocable toward each other in the plane of the bed at right angles to the path of reciprocation of the first mentioned devices to also engage the parts on the bed, clamping arms carried by the first mentioned positioning devices, spring means associated with the arms to normally project them from the bed,

a cam plate rotatably supported underneath the debt and having cam slots and'cam portions, and. a? nnerating handle attached to the plate for r0- caamng the cam slots to engage depending portions of th positioning devices to cause'the de- ViCes'Of each pair to approach each other and the plate and thereby in timed sequence 

